( From Kashmir Rechords’ Archives on IAF Day)

Indian Air Force (IAF) turns 91!  During the past nine decades, the Indian Air Force has proved its mettle in terms of necessary skills and abilities. When IAF was officially established on October 8, 1932, it had just six Royal Air Force (RAF)-trained officers and 19 Havai Sepoys (air soldiers). It required both men and machinery, as the aircraft inventory consisted of just four Westland Wapiti IIA army co-operation biplanes. Presently, IAF is counted as the fourth largest air force in the world with so many aircraft, fighter squadrons and combat aircraft squadrons.

With such a meager force in the initial years, the problems concerning the defense of India were reassessed in 1939 by the Chatfield Committee. It coincided with the beginning of the World War–II during the same year. The Committee, besides other things, had proposed the induction of Pilots and Observers to strengthen the air force in India. It was during this period from 1940 to 1943 that newspapers and magazines used to carry a series of advertisements for the recruitment of Indians into IAF. Matriculation, with a sound physique, was the basic qualification to occupy the cockpit!

Kashmir Rechords is in possession of several advertisements having been printed/published in various newspapers and magazines of India between 1939 to 1943, imploring the youth to make IAF their career. Catchy and well-crated advertisements were there to catch the attention.

Fly with IAF

One such advertisement lured Indian youth aged between 18-28 to fly high up in the skies. The basic qualification for the same was a sound physique with Matriculation as the minimum qualification. Knowledge of written and spoken English was considered to be essential and candidates having higher qualifications were being given preference in the selection process.

Those who intended to join as Observers needed greater technical knowledge in order to act as “the mind and the sword-arm of the Pilot who is wholly concentrated on flying the aircraft’’.

Protectors Today—Pioneers Tomorrow

In another advertisement, those who wanted to join IAF  (The Progressive Service) as Pilots should have been good at Mathematics, General Knowledge and Current Affairs.

Candidates were required to visit the office of the nearest District Area Commander or the nearest Commissioner of Police or Technical Recruiting Officer to volunteer for flying duties. Those suited for the job of a Pilot or Observer were later required to undergo thorough training in order to fetch a Commissioned rank for themselves in IAF. The forms for joining IAF as Pilots were available from “ AG 2 (C), Recruiting Directorate, Adjutant-General’s Branch G.H.Q, New Delhi.

The Sky Is The Limit!

The recruitment of Pilots and Observers during this period must have come in handy at a time when India needed IAF soon after her  Independence in 1947. On  October 27, 1947,  (Soon after the signing of the Instrument of Accession), the No.12 Sqn was to initiate the remarkable feat of air-lifting the Ist Sikhs from Palam onto the rough and dusty Srinagar airstrip without planning or reconnaissance as the initial Indian response to the sizeable insurgent forces that were pouring across the border into Jammu and Kashmir. On October 30, 1947, the first Spitfires from the Advanced Flying School at Ambala reached Srinagar and were soon engaged in strafing the raiders beyond Pattan. The fighting continued for 15 months, with heavy IAF involvement throughout this period till the declaration of a Ceasefire in January 1949.

From Sky Is the Limit to “Touch the Sky with Glory”—- Indian Air Force has always shown its courage and resolve, both in times of Peace and War.